


Never Thought I'd Be On Your Case Like This

by RipperShipper



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Abduction, Angst, But here she is, But no major character death, Ellie Miller is so tired of having to be a badass, F/M, Family, Gen, Hardy gets many hugs, Other, Revenge, So much angst, Support, This idea would not leave me alone, Violence, Yall seriously too much angst, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-10-28 04:13:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20772347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RipperShipper/pseuds/RipperShipper
Summary: They finally did it. They were finally coming together. The world was finally not falling apart. They should've known better. Set post-Season 3, so spoilers for the entire series abound.





	1. 99 Problems

**Author's Note:**

> This has been plaguing me, so HERE WE GO! Also, I was v responsible and actually outlined the entire fic before posting the first chapter so I don't get stuck. KUDOS TO MYSELF.

_ “Keep moving, keep moving.” _

The crisp, cold Autumn leaves crunched beneath her bare feet and sent tiny pin pricks through her skin. She knew they were piercing yet further holes in her body for her blood to seep out of, but she couldn’t be bothered to care.

_“The worst thing you can do if you escape is let yourself be caught again.”_

Her breath stung her lungs in the rapidly-cooling air.

How ironic it was that the beauty of the colder seasons she so loved was now responsible for wrenching more and more pain out her aching body.

_“Not unlike the person you once loved so dearly that put you in this bloody position.” _

She shook her head, willing her mind to let it go; the grief, the guilt, the never-ending fucking feeling that things would never be right again, no matter how hard she…they…tried.

_“Make it to the road, you have to find the road.”_

But which way was the road? Gasping, she let herself halt for the briefest of moments to try and orient herself, but her vision swam and whatever blood she had left thundered in her ears. With no time to think and no space to breathe, she prayed to whomever was listening that left was the right way to turn.

“-He-lp!” the words fell like razors on her throat and she suddenly couldn’t remember the last time she’d had water. He was right. No one would hear her scream.

_“Swallow the panic and move.”_

Step. Step. Step. Step. StepStepStep.

The sound of her feet hitting the ground anchored her and she pushed ahead.

Like the clouds parting to reveal the heavens, the maze of trees at last gave way to coarse sand and crashing waves. These sounds, she could handle. The sand agitated her skin and the salt in the air made it even harder to breathe, but she could feel her heart slowing, calming.

Or perhaps slowing too much…

Before she knew what hit her, the sand coated her hands and knees as well as the aching soles of her feet and the ground spun beneath her. The beige sprinklings of earth became red.

Ellie Miller’s last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was how ironic it was that after all of this, Joe was leaving yet another body on the beach for Alec to find. They would really have to stop meeting this way.

_ FOUR DAYS EARLIER _

Ellie Miller and Daisy Hardy walked thoughtfully down the pier. Fred swung happily between them and they each held a 99 in the non-Fred hand, though Fred had eyes for both and Ellie could tell he was plotting, impending dinner be damned.

“Mummy, cream!” he threw his whole body towards Ellie but was thwarted by Daisy’s grip.

“Oh no you don’t, little worm.” Daisy teased lovingly. She adored Fred. Her little wriggly worm, the little brother she never had. Well, one of the little brothers she never had, really. Nothing was official, after all, Ellie still wasn’t technically divorced from Joe, but after she and Alec finally caved five months ago and admitted there might be something between them, the Hardys and the Millers had formed an odd, but loving unit.

Ellie and Alec were together, but taking things at a glacial pace according to their children and essentially everyone else around them. Even Beth admitted she was less shocked by them getting together and more shocked at how they didn’t snowball into living together within a month. Daisy was especially put out about this as it meant she was still living in a small flat with her dad even though the two of them spent nearly every evening at Ellie’s house. She’d tried to broach the subject with Alec, but all he had to say was that relationships were complicated and they’d both been hurt very badly and didn’t want to mess things up.

Tom had a similarly unsuccessful argument with his mum, although he’d never admit it was for his own benefit. He argued on Fred’s behalf (a crafty move in Ellie’s opinion) that having Alec around would be good for his brother because Alec was the only father he remembered and Tom was sick of being woken up in the middle of the night because Fred was crying for his dad…who didn’t live there…but who obviously could…

Ellie was moved, but remained firm. The last thing she wanted was to mess things up with Alec and have the boys lose yet another father figure. It was too dangerous, never mind the fact that she was more than a little afraid of how quickly she was falling head over heels in love with him.

The trio arrived at Alec and Ellie’s bench and Daisy snuck Fred a lick of ice cream while Ellie answered a text. Daisy smiled when Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Is that dad again?” she asked knowingly.

“All the man had to do was pick up a bloody pie that people might actually want to eat.” Ellie ranted.

“Oh, no, what flavor did he get?”

“He didn’t. He got a damned fruit tart. Said the pies looked questionable. I swear, I don’t know how you ate before us.”

“Didn’t really.” Daisy laughed. “Ordered take away after school almost every day.”

“Better that than a Hardy salad…”

“With no dressing…”

The two shuddered and giggled. Daisy wasn’t about to claim that Ellie’s house didn’t come with food perks. Fred reached again for Daisy’s 99.

“Might as well let him have it.” Ellie relented. “He won’t be getting any decent dessert later.”

Daisy handed over the treat and Fred took it with a look of awe before munching down.

“So, were you going to tell me why you wanted to take a walk?” Ellie asked. Daisy looked at her hands. She loved Ellie, but the woman did like to get to the heart of the matter.

“Had a row with mum the other night.” Daisy admitted uncomfortably. 

“Well, that’s certainly nothing new, love.” Ellie gently quipped. “Did she say something?” 

Daisy looked back at her shoes. 

“Daiz…” Ellie coaxed. 

“It was about you and dad.” Daisy blurted. “I mean, she was nice at first. Even asked how you were. But then I told her that Freddie called dad, well, ‘dad’ and she flipped. Said you were using us cause your husband’s gone and she couldn’t see how I could be mad at her for having an affair when I loved another mum who was doing the same thing. It was awful. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you, but I knew dad would go ballistic.” 

“Loved another mum?” Ellie asked softly. Daisy looked up, clearly not expecting that to be what Ellie zeroed in on. Daisy blushed. 

“Yeah.” she admitted. “I mean I love my mum, but...you kind of feel like my mum too. Is that wrong?” 

“No sweetheart, of course not!” Ellie pulled her into a bone crushing hug that only broke when they realized Fred had been the unfortunate victim of a human sandwich. “Oh, sorry darling.” 

“Mummy squish.” Fred grumbled. Ellie and Daisy had to pinch themselves to keep from laughing as the toddler pulled the exact same face as Alec. Perhaps Tom had a point. 

“Fred is too little to remember Joe, but I actually had a very similar conversation with Tom recently.” Ellie elaborated. “It’s not the same, but despite everything, he does still love a part of his dad and loving Alec seemed a bit confusing for him. It doesn’t mean he has to love one more or less than the other. Does that make sense?” 

“I think so.” said Daisy. “It’s a bit weird. I mean, I don’t think of Dave as my dad.” 

“Well I might be biased, but that’s probably because Dave’s a right wanker.” 

Daisy laughed happily and Fred giggled in response. 

Ellie smiled, but was distracted from the happy moment by the hair on the back of her neck rising to attention. She couldn’t explain it, but she’d had the oddest feeling over the past couple of days that they were being watched. She hadn’t told Alec. She knew he would worry and there wasn’t anyone for them to worry about. The Ashworths and Ricky were rotting away for the rest of their lives, Leo was serving his own sentence despite his threats against them, and Joe was apparently somewhere in Sheffield being watched by Paul’s friend. 

Still, she felt uneasy. 

“What do you say we pick up a chocolate cream pie on the way to Beth’s?” she suggested. “Sod your father’s fruit tart.” 

“Chock!” Fred shrieked gleefully. Well, there was no doubt he was her son. 

“Sure thing!” Daisy grabbed the remains of her (and Fred’s) 99 and went to toss it in the bin. 

“Mummy?” Fred pulled on her jacket sleeve. 

“Yes love?” 

“Daiz n’ daddy stay with Fred?” 

Ellie’s heart wilted. 

“Do you mean, tonight, love? After the dinner? I’m sure we could ask them.” She knew what he meant, but her heart was already tender from Daisy’s admission and she just couldn’t have the moving in conversation with yet another one of their children. 

“Forevers.” Fred clarified seriously. Ellie sighed. 

“We’ll see, my angel.” she paused, but let herself add “maybe someday soon.” 

Ellie was shocked out of her moment with her son by Daisy screaming her name. 

“Ellie! ELLIE BEHIND YOU! FRED!” 

Ellie turned around and felt the entire world fall out from under her. Standing between her, Fred, and her car was Joe. 

“Hello, Ellie.” 

“Freddie go to Daisy. NOW.” She could barely register herself saying the words, but was eternally grateful for whatever instincts told her to get Fred and Daisy as far behind her as possible. Fred shook at her forceful tone and immediately ran to the safety of his sister and buried himself in her arms. 

“There’s no need for that Ellie, I would never hurt him.” Joe’s voice was level, but the look in his eyes made her feel like she was five-years-old. _ This is the Joe that Danny saw. _

“What the hell are you doing here? You’re not welcome in Broadchurch.” she spat. Between her puffy orange coat and the wind she only prayed he couldn’t see her shaking. He took a step forward. 

“I don’t plan on staying very long.” he explained. “I’m just here for you and the boys.” he took another step but then turned his focus from her to Fred. “Fred, come here. Come say hi to daddy.” 

Ellie winced, knowing what was coming and having no way to stop it. Daisy must have realized the same thing because she tried to cover his mouth, but it was out before she could stop him. 

“Not daddy!” Fred wailed. 

Joe saw red and Ellie saw her chance. 

“DAISY, TAKE FRED AND RUN!” Without thinking, she threw herself against her husband and sent them both hurtling to the ground. Daisy, tears in her eyes, raced past and didn’t stop, her dad’s words from long ago echoing in her ears. 

_“If we’re ever in danger, if I ever tell you to run. You run. Do you understand? You don’t look back, you don’t worry about me or your mum, you run and you find someone you trust.” _

Daisy could barely see her tears were so blurry, but she knew where she was headed, and by God, with her screaming brother in her arms, she was going to make it. 

She didn’t see anything that happened on the pier. She didn’t see Ellie nearly claw Joe’s eyes out. She didn’t see Joe turn them over and get his hands around her throat. She didn’t see Ellie knee him in the groin and try to crawl away. She didn’t see Joe hobble over and bang Ellie’s head into the wood. 

Most of all, she didn’t see Joe force Ellie’s unconscious body into her own car and drive away with his wife’s keys. 

All Daisy Hardy saw that day was the look in Ellie’s eyes when she told her to run. The look of a mother, terrified for both of her children. 


	2. Why are you Never Where you're Supposed to Be?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy delivers news, Ellie wakes up, and Alec...doesn't quite get the hug he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! Thank you guys so much for your incredible response to this story! I have the whole thing planned out, but I'm not sure of the update schedule at the moment, but I promise it will be pretty prompt. Let me know what you think!

Alec Hardy glanced down at his watch once again. It had only been one minute and 15 seconds since the last time he checked, but even so, he checked his surroundings once again for Ellie’s car and deflated when he came up empty. He’d stalled as long as he could getting the pie and he knew that Ellie was annoyed with him for choosing the fruit tart (although really, tarts were delicious. It wasn’t like he’d gone and bought a vegetable loaf), but it hadn’t saved him from the inevitable: Ellie and Daisy were late. He was going to have to enter...alone...make small talk...alone...sit with Mark and Nige...Oh god, where was Ellie? 

_ “Where the hell are you, Miller?”  _ He sent off the text as if he expected a reply before it could reach her phone. He was contemplating just driving around the block until they got there when Tom came out of the Lattimer house looking to Hardy, for all intents and purposes, like a social savior sent from the Heavens. He waved and Tom ran over to his car. 

“Was wonderin’ where you were. Mum texted. Said she’s gonna be late. Something about getting a proper pie?” Tom’s confusion disappeared at the crestfallen look on Alec’s face as he discreetly tried to shove the fruit tart under the seat. “Oh, gotcha.” 

“Bloody hell, Miller.” Alec muttered to himself. 

“You really surprised?” Tom asked.

“No.” Alec sighed. He knew his efforts weren’t going to be well received. If it had just been them, Ellie would’ve made a face, but she would’ve eaten it. As it stood, she was on his case for trying to be friends with their friends on independent terms from her and apparently a tart was not part of that plan. 

“Come on.” Tom urged. “We’re having a kick in the yard, but Mrs. Lattimer said she could use your help in the kitchen if you want.” 

_ BLESS BETH.  _ He might break his no-hug rule for that woman today. The last time he’d played football with Tom, he’d sent the ball flying clear through Ellie’s sitting room window and both boys were so afraid for their lives that Alec nearly jumped in the car to drive them out of town. 

The two headed inside and Alec was thrilled to discover that not only did Beth want his help, but she had left her vegetable dish for last, knowing it was his favorite to make. 

“You can spice it how you like.” she instructed. “You’re a right hand better with those than I ever was an’ I’ve got my hands full over here.” 

Perhaps Ellie had a point about them being his friends as well. Maybe he could afford to try a little harder. 

“How’s wee Lizzie doing? Still teething?” He glanced up from his onion chopping and praised himself for his efforts when he saw Beth was smiling at him. 

“Oh yeah, and screamin’ like a banshee about it.” Beth replied. “I’d almost forgotten this part. I love her to death, but I won’t lie, it would be nice to get a full night’s sleep.” 

The words were out of his mouth before he knew he was saying them. “Ellie and I could watch her one night if you’d like.” Beth’s eyebrows shot up and a smirk graced her lips. 

“That would imply you were sleeping under the same roof, DI Hardy…” 

“Oh not you too…” Alec sighed. Beth stopped her fussing over the canapes and crossed over to him, possibly closer than she’d ever dared before. There was something about them cooking together that made him feel like a human to her. Like someone she could relate to and comfort like Ellie or Mark. 

“You know we all just want you and Ellie to be happy.” 

“It’s not that simple. You of all people should understand that.” he replied sadly and with a twinge of regret that made Beth’s heart twist. 

“I might have said that when you first got together, but, Alec…” she tested the friendly name out in her mouth. It would take some getting used to, “...it’s been months. Everyone can see where this is headed except for the two of you, you’re both just so stubborn.” Beth paused, debating revealing a confidence and eventually deciding it wasn’t the right time. “Just think about it. I can see how much you love her.”

“You can?” he asked, shocked. He assumed everyone thought he was still the same asshat detective who wouldn’t know love if it smacked him in the face. 

“Oh, only towards Ellie and the kids.” she clarified with a smile. “Everyone else is still happy to call you shitface.” 

Alec groaned. Of course Ellie told her about that. 

They both returned to their tasks in peaceable silence until they were both startled by the front door slamming open and a young woman screaming. 

“DAD! BETH! MARK! ANYONE!” 

Alec’s blood ran cold at the terror in his daughter’s voice and he dropped everything as he sprinted to the front room with Beth hot on his heels. 

Now safe inside, Daisy was frozen in fear and she stood shaking on the door mat with Fred in a vice grip and sweat dripping down her face. She kept screaming for the adults, but she was so far gone that she barely noticed when her dad finally did enter the room and nearly knocked her over in an effort to hold her close. 

“Daisy. Daisy, what happened?” Alec was trying desperately to hold back the panic in his voice. “Daisy. You have to say something.” 

She held Fred tighter to her chest and his scared cries turned to wails. It took all of Beth’s strength to pry him out of her arms. That finally got to Daisy. 

“No! No, you can’t take him! I won’t let you take him!” She clawed against Alec to get to Fred until he forced her to look at him and she realized where she was. “Daddy!” she fell against him and sobbed. Whatever happened was bad. Really bad. 

“You’re safe, sweetheart.” Alec kept repeating. “You’re safe, I promise. You’re safe.” 

Beth bounced Fred in frightened confusion as she tried to figure out what was going on. 

_ “I won’t let you take him!”  _ Daisy’s words banged in her ears and she looked down at Fred and then back at the terrified girl. Her stomach dropped. 

“Daisy…” Beth trembled. “Where’s Ellie?” 

* * *

God, her head was killing her. The last time she’d had a headache like this was the day after she and Beth rekindled their friendship over several bottles of wine and a cascade of tears. Had she been drinking? She thought she’d stopped that. She gingerly opened her eyes, but even the smallest light sent searing pain to the back of her skull and she quickly shut them again and groaned, praying for the world to stop spinning. 

After a moment, she tried again. Her stomach lurched. Prayers unsuccessful. 

Unable to see well enough to find a semi-civilized place to hurl, she resigned herself to puking her guts out onto the floor and rolling away from the smell. This was certainly a new low. At least her body was reliable. She always felt loads better once she’d thrown up and despite the unpleasantness, she found looking around was now a little less painful. 

As her eyes took in her dank surroundings she almost wished she hadn’t bothered. Where the hell was she? 

_ “Some detective you are, Miller.”  _

Huffing, she forced herself to search for details. Slivers of sunlight came through old planks of wood and dust covered whatever remained of the floor and most of the furniture. From what she could tell, the place was largely abandoned. She would’ve said completely abandoned had it not been for the small stash of food goods in the corner and the fact that the bed on the other side of the room had clearly been slept in recently. Her eyes glanced down her body to check for any damage and she realized she was freezing because her reliable orange parka had disappeared. She tried to rub her hands together and her gaze snapped to the naked band of skin around her ring finger, still mocking her despite the years. 

_ “Daisy, take Fred and run!”  _

The last few hours hazily came back to her and she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding in a nauseating combination of terror and heartache. 

“Joe, why?” she whispered to herself as she let the tears fall. At least he seemed to be gone for the moment. There was no way she was ever going to let that bastard see how scared she was. Curling in on herself, Ellie was comforted in knowing that she was alone. Daisy and Fred were safe somewhere far from where Joe could ever touch them. 

* * *

“I want every single officer in Broadchurch on that pier right now!” Alec screamed into his phone. “I don’t care if they have the day off, if they work for me, they’re on the clock as of five minutes ago. Anyone who doesn’t show will be sanctioned, do I make myself clear?! GO!” 

Part of Alec’s brain told him Ellie would berate him for speaking to their colleagues in such a way, but his heart told him that if the situations were reversed, they’d have a much angrier Ellie on the line. As it was, he needed his anger. If he stopped for even a second to think about what could be happening to her the more time they wasted, he’d...no. No, he needed to keep moving. 

“Where the bloody hell is my coat?” he shouted to the room. No one answered for a moment, but then,

“Here dad...I’m sorry.” He whipped around and saw Daisy huddled on the couch, looking as small as Lizzie in his trench coat. Tom sat next to her with Fred on his lap trying not to let anyone see him cry. Beth, Mark, and Nige fretted about the house making phone calls and soothing anyone who started a fit. Fred reached out to Alec and he softened instantly, though the pain of doing so sent his pacemaker into a small frenzy. 

“Where mumma?” Fred sniffled. Tom unconsciously held him just a bit firmer. 

“I don’t know, lad.” Alec admitted forlornly. “But I promise, I’m going to do whatever it takes to find her and bring her back to us.” 

“It was Joe, wasn’t it?” Tom asked. The lack of emotion in his voice threw Alec for a moment, but he didn’t blame him. He couldn’t bare to handle everything he was feeling right now, so he could hardly ask the same of a young man. “He took mum. He took everything.”

“Not yet he hasn’t, Tom.” Alec promised. “Your mum is a fighter, more than I anyone I’ve ever met. If anyone can get through this, it’s her.” 

“He tried to take Fred.” Tom continued, unappeased. “He’ll come back for us.” His voice finally broke a bit in fear and Alec had to fight the urge to tell him the truth: that likely, Joe wouldn’t come for them. His plan of taking the three of them had been wildly unsuccessful and Joe was a creature of panic and temper. He couldn’t tell the boys and Daisy that given Joe’s nature, it was unlikely they were going to find both Ellie and Joe alive. One of them was going to have to kill the other to get what they wanted whether that was an escape back to Broadchurch or a chance at a new life once again. How do you tell a son that he’s likely to either never see his mother again or the next time he sees her, she’ll have murdered his father. 

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t.” Alec promised with no less conviction. Mark cleared his throat in the doorway. 

“Sorry to interrupt, DI Hardy.” Mark apologized with a haunted look in his eyes. “DS Hartford’s outside to take you to the pier.” 

“I can drive myself to the bloody pier. Send her ahead!” he barked. Mark wanted to fight, but Beth got there first. 

“Like hell, you can.” Beth snapped at him. “I’ll take you.” 

“Beth-” 

“Right now, you’re the only person I trust to find Ellie and if you think I’m willin’ to let you risk your neck drivin’ like a love-struck fool, you’ve got another thing comin’.” 

Alec and Beth stared each other down for a moment before he relented. 

“Fine.” he submitted. “But you’re staying in the car when we get there.” 

“Crisis counselors are allowed on the scene.” she fought back. 

“Not when there isn’t a victim for them to counsel.” he corrected harshly. 

“Who says there isn’t?” Her eyes bore deeply into him and he hated that she was talking about him. He’d prove her wrong. 

“Get your bloody coat, Latimer.” 

* * *

After what felt like hours, Ellie found herself feasting on a packet of stale biscuits and feeling well enough to at least consider a plan. Getting to the biscuits had taken a toll on her. By the time she had the strength to stand, she realized it wasn’t an option as her feet were bound and her hands, while free, were so cold and weak that she couldn’t break the bond. She’d tried the door, the windows, and several vulnerable-looking places in the walls, but there didn’t seem to be an easy out. At least the food wasn’t locked up. The twinge of spite she still had laughed at how many biscuits she’d consumed. If nothing else, she supposed she could starve Joe to death by eating all his food. After all, it wasn’t like he could go into town and buy more now that he’d kidnapped her. In fact, he’d been gone for so long that she was almost feeling calm. 

_ “Maybe that’s his plan? To abandon you here and go back for the boys?”  _

That horrible thought perished as a key turned in the lock and she stuffed the biscuit packet behind her and tried to roll as far from the food as possible. 

“Hello, El.” Joe greeted with an unsettling familiarity; as if she were simply coming home from work. “It’s good to see you up.” He walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. Her skin crawled and the biscuits threatened to make a reappearance, but she kept them down. 

_ “Play along, Ellie. You know better than this.”  _

“What the fuck do you want with me?” 

_ “Or not, apparently. Jesus Christ, Miller.”  _

Joe’s countenance faltered for a moment, but he swiftly shoved his smile back on. 

“Is that anyway to greet your husband?” he busied himself with checking the locks on the door and Ellie craned her neck trying to watch the process, but her anger was still bubbling to much for her to truly focus. 

“You’re not my husband.” she seethed. “You are dead to my family; to this entire town-” 

“Is that what you tell yourself when you’re fucking your boss in our bed?!” he snapped, eyes blazing. Ellie took in the strain of his muscles, the throbbing vein in his neck. So much useless power behind a man who had nothing. A man who could kill her, but who wouldn’t because she was his only chance at getting to Tom and Fred. She could do this. She could win. 

“S’not our bed anymore.” she spoke lowly. “I burned that when you strangled Danny to death.” she was taking a risk, but she thought it might work. If she could piss him off just enough… “I repainted every room in that house...and the man who arrested you christened them all with me afterwards.” 

She felt herself flying through the air as he threw her from the ground to the wall. Her vision was blurry from the impact, but she saw him take the pocket knife out of his trousers in consideration before he threw it on the bed. It bounced and fell beneath the bed frame, blue tint shining in her eyes. 

_ “Well done, Ellie.”  _

She passed out.

* * *

Alec sat on the end of the pier gazing at their bench. So many memories now covered in garish crime scene tape. Fights, reconciliations, their first kiss… It was the sight of their first ‘I love you’. A month ago, they’d sat bundled together, slightly tipsy and chattering on about a nonsense list of rules for PDA at the station. Ellie had drawn a firm line at pet names, which made him laugh because he assumed that would’ve been his rule. 

_ “You can’t call me Miller anymore, you know.” she rambled. He scoffed.  _

_ “What on earth am I supposed to call you then, Eleanor?” She grimaced.  _

_ “I thought you’d mastered the art of communicating with no names at all, SIR.” He felt her point. She couldn’t call him Sir anymore. It sent his blood to very unprofessional places.  _

_ “Well, can I tell you I love you when I come in?” he asked without thinking. She paused and put her hand on his chest.  _

_ “Do you?” she asked. He almost had to look away her gaze was so scared, but he stayed with her.  _

_ “I...I do.” he said firmly. “I love you, Ellie Miller.”  _

_ “I love you too,” she paused, “knob.”  _

_ He rolled his eyes knowingly and pulled her in for a kiss, not caring they were wildly in public. He wanted the world to know that Eleanor Miller loved him.  _

“Alec. Alec you should head home.” Beth had found him. “There’s nothing more you can do here. Daisy….Tom and Fred...they need you.” 

“Her car is gone.” he stated, though Beth already knew that. “He took it. They could be miles from here.” 

Beth didn’t know what to say to that, all her counseling skills be damned, so she simply sat next to him and forced a cup of tea into his hand. 

“You’ll find her.” she knew the platitude meant nothing, but it was a familiar and entirely awful feeling to not be able to do anything useful. 

Brian’s voice called on the radio from down the road. 

“Sir, sir you need to come now.” 

Alec and Beth ran along the tire tracks until they found Brian crouched near a bush on the side of the road. He was shaking. SOCO, by nature, didn’t shake. 

Alec hesitantly moved closer and his pacemaker fired in desperation. Ellie’s orange parka lay under the bush, covered in blood and mud stains. His world closed in on him and he semi-felt Beth grab his arm. Air. He needed air. He was outside, where was the bloody air? 

“El-” 

Beth caught his head before he hit the ground and Brian called for an ambulance. 

The kids were going to kill him.


	3. Face to Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie and Joe have a talk, Alec wakes in a strange place, and Olly comes through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL. I'm so sorry. I booked a TV show and I've been doing 15 hour days on set and so all my other endeavors kind of died. MY BAD. I'm back now though and I hope you like the update!!

Alec woke slowly to a slew of semi-unfamiliar, but not unpleasant sensations, the most conspicuous of which was that the sheets were way too soft and the pillows were way too squishy. 

_ “Ellie’s bed.”  _

He vaguely recalled the first time he’d slept over at her house and given her grief over her love of sleeping on what was effectively a massive marshmallow. 

_ “I would’ve thought you’d love it.” she’d teased. “Nothing but soft padding for your sodding bony knees.”  _

He made her pay for her comments in an orgasm so strong she smacked the headboard and bruised her hand. 

She wasn’t here now though. 

Everything about the room: the smell, the feel, the arguing of her children downstairs indicated that she should be pestering him to get up. Instead, all he felt were twinges in his chest and a light haze across his brain. A knock at the door confused him. Ellie didn’t knock to get into her own bedroom. 

It wasn’t Ellie, though. It was Daisy; pale, red-eyed, and carrying a tea tray. Her smile was genuine at seeing him awake, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She set the tray down on the nightstand before surprising him and snuggling in next to him on the bed with her hand on his heart, just over his pacemaker. 

“I can’t lose you too.” she whispered. Tears prickled at his eyes. Ellie’s abduction hit him full force again and his daughter crying in his arms wasn’t helping him keep it together. 

“I’m sorry.” he apologized and possibly meant for the first time in years. “I’m sorry, darling.” He was. He was always sorry for hurting others, but for the first time, he was sorry for hurting himself. Dating Ellie had made him realize what a selfish bastard he’d really become. Apologizing for taking crap care of himself didn’t mean anything if he continued down the path of self-destruction. He’d been trying so hard to be better and he’d royally fucked up. “What happened?” 

“You collapsed.” Daisy revealed, devastated. “Apparently your bloody pacemaker can’t fix everything.” 

“Oi, language.” he corrected half-heartedly. She was right, after all. “How long was I out for? And how did I get here? What about Ellie? Have there been any breaks in the case? Is anyone out look-” 

“For Christ’s sake, dad!” Daisy snapped. He looked properly chastened, but Daisy immediately regretted her tone when he looked up at the ceiling, failing to hide the tears. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just…” 

“I know.” He really did. She sat up to turn away from him and fix him a cup of tea. He didn’t blame her. Serious conversations were always best without eye contact in his opinion and he didn’t want her seeing how broken and scared he was. 

“It’s only been a day.” she spoke softly. “Hospital released you on mandatory bed rest and Mark and Beth helped move us in here. I know you would’ve wanted to go home, but...anyway...everyone in Broadchurch is out looking as far as we know. Haven’t heard anything yet, though.” 

Alec nodded, though Daisy couldn’t see him. 

“Dad?” she sounded so small. “I’m really sorry.” Alec sat up at that, ignoring the twinges throughout his sore body. 

“Darlin’, what on earth are you sorry for?” 

Daisy sniffled, still refusing to look at him. 

“I didn’t help her.” she cried. “I didn’t try and stop him, I just ran away, I’m so sorry.” 

“No, no, no.” Alec took the tea from her hands and pulled her back against him. “Daiz, you did exactly what you were supposed to do. You got Fred to safety as fast as you could and I am so proud of you.” 

“But Ellie-”

“Did exactly what any parent should have done.” he explained a little too knowingly and Daisy knew it. “None of this is your fault.” Daisy clutched at his pajama top, burying her head into his shoulder and soaking it with tears. 

“She told me to grab Fred and run. I didn’t see what happened. Why didn’t I look back?” 

Alec rocked her, grief seeping out of both of them. It was a lesson he never wanted his little girl to learn; that sometimes you could do absolutely everything right and it wouldn’t stop bad things from happening. It was a lesson Ellie and Tom learned all too well with Joe already. 

Another soft knock at the door drew Alec’s attention and he smiled bittersweetly as Tom and a sniffling Fred made their way into the room. Tom looked horribly apologetic and hideously uncomfortable at seeing him and Daisy in such a state, but it was a testimony to how much he’d grown and how dire the situation was that he didn’t leave. 

“He was crying for mum.” Tom explained, sadly indicating Fred. “I told him she wasn’t in here, but he had to see for himself.” Fred wiggled against Tom and broke free to scramble onto the bed. He looked around eagerly for Ellie and when he realized she wasn’t there, just as Tom said, he started wailing. 

“Oh, wee Fred, come here.” Alec pulled him up onto his other side and Fred glued himself to his chest. Daisy reached out a hand and stroked Fred’s cheek even though she couldn’t bring herself to look up at any of them. Tom shifted awkwardly in the doorway until Alec looked back at him. 

“Tom.” Alec chose his words gingerly. “You don’t have to leave.” 

Tom looked between the bed and the door several times before closing the door and running to join them. He took over Ellie’s side of the bed behind Fred and, for once, didn’t flinch when Alec reached out to put his hand on his shoulder. 

Alec Hardy had certainly never expected to be covered in children in Ellie Miller’s bed after arresting her husband for murder, but he couldn’t deny it gave him a glimpse of hope that Ellie might return soon and complete the picture. 

* * *

Ellie awoke the second time feeling just as nauseated and in far more pain, but briefly grateful for the bucket beside her bed where Joe had apparently moved her at some point. That gratefulness quickly turned to disgusted anger when she realized her hands were now bound in addition to her ankles and she wasn’t wearing her comfy jeans and blouse from the previous day. 

Instead, Ellie looked down her body in horror to find herself clad in a brand new dress - a dress she distinctly remembered eyeing when she was out with Hardy over a month ago…

_ “Fuck, how long had he been watching them?” _

“Do you like it?” 

“Shit!” Ellie nearly fell off the bed. Joe sat on an overturned box on the other side of the room observing her. His gaze traveled up and down her body and for the first time, she felt the stirrings of true panic. 

“He should’ve bought it for you. You look beautiful in it.” Joe slowly stood and walked over to sit beside her on the bed. Ellie could feel her breathing hitch in the worst of ways and she tried to back herself as far as she could against the wall. The sad excuse for a twin bed didn’t help her. She couldn’t move away from his hand pushing her hair out of her eyes or his lips meeting her forehead. Not for the first time, her mind wandered to Trish and what Ellie might have done in that situation. She prayed to whomever was listening that she wouldn’t have to find out. 

“How...how did you get it?” Ellie asked, shaking. “You can’t go into town. They wouldn’t let you.” 

“You can order anything online these days.” he explained, refusing to move away from her. “Had it shipped to Sheffield.” His hand grasped at the fabric along her waist where it didn’t quite hug her curves. “You’ve lost weight. I didn’t know your size anymore.” he remarked bitterly. He wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t exactly intentional, but between being a single mother and then getting into a new relationship on top of years of stress, she’d unknowingly shed the few pounds that showcased her comfortable marriage of a previous life. She was nowhere near as skinny as Alec (thank God, honestly), but her curves had lessened from the last time Joe touched her. 

“It’s not yours to know.” she snipped, though the fear was still evident in her voice. His eyes narrowed. 

“No, I suppose it’s Alec Hardy’s now?” 

_ “He’s fixated on Alec. Stop fucking around and think. Get yourself out of here.”  _

“Alec doesn’t really buy me clothes.” 

She said it with as little inflection as she could to gage a response. If it made him push towards trying to win her over, she could work that, if it pissed him off, she would at least know what she was dealing with.

“Is that disappointment I hear?” 

_ “Okay, he’s deluded enough to think he can win you back. Don’t fuck this up.”  _

Ellie swallowed the bile sitting in wait at the back of her throat and forced herself to imagine Alec’s hands in the place of her husband’s. 

“He’s not exactly the romantic sort.” It almost surprised her how easily the lie slipped out. Alec wasn’t one for huge gestures, but behind closed doors, he was quite possibly the most romantic person she’d ever met. 

“Oh,” Joe slid his hand up to her chest and then to her neck and she could’ve cried from how awful, but familiar he felt. “Is that something you miss? Being romanced?” 

_ “Fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s going to kiss you and you’re going to scream, think of something!”  _

“WecoulddothisbetterifIwasuntied!” she said it so fast he barely understood her, but the words must have registered because for a moment, Joe the murderer was gone from his eyes and Joe her loving husband looked at her for a split second. He took his hands off her and walked over to his stash of food, grabbing her a packet of crisps. He opened it for her and helped her sit up enough that she could eat it despite the bindings. 

“Why don’t you eat something?” he offered. “We can talk more when you’re feeling better.” 

His fists clenched and a shadow of doubt crossed his face before he stormed out of the shack, leaving her alone. 

Ellie threw the crisps off the bed and sobbed. 

* * *

“No, you can’t just hold your phone, the screen’s too small for your to see anything.” 

“No, I don’t need to plug the phone into the laptop, god, you’re so old!” 

Alec sighed and resigned himself to his tea while Daisy, Tom, and Chloe fretted around him trying to set up a connection with the station. They were saying something about video calling, but on a better screen so he could keep up with the case. It was all really fine by him until they decided that he was incapable and they had to save him from being eaten by his own technological items. Somewhere in the midst of them arguing, Beth had come in, but rather than shoo them away, she seemed perfectly content to watch him suffer. 

“Can I help you?” Alec asked, annoyed, as Beth sat down on the bed. She seemed fully unperturbed.

“You can’t do this any faster than they can and I want case updates.” she explained, her mom voice coming out well-practiced and planned. “Drink your tea.” 

Alec grumbled, though his body was grateful for the playful hostility. It sure beat the terror of not knowing what Ellie was doing that moment. 

“HA!” Chloe shouted in victory. “Told ya.” 

Alec wasn’t sure what Chloe had been right about, but he didn’t care. Within moments, Jenkinson was standing in front of him at the station with Hartford and Brian and his blood was sizzling. He could help again. 

“Hardy, glad to see you sitting up.” Jenkinson remarked with as much compassion as she could muster. His boss wasn’t one for feelings, but she also wore bags under her eyes and it was clear to him she was working round the clock to bring Ellie home and that was good enough for him. 

“Ma’am.” he nodded before turning to the kids. “Alright, out with you lot!” 

A chorus of ‘no’ smacked him in the face and Beth rolled her eyes before inviting the three of them to come to her side. God help him. 

“Any news?” he asked to the camera. Jenkinson gestured to Katie and she pulled their screen towards the evidence board. 

“So far, nothing that pins down location.” Katie explained regretfully. “We followed the tire tracks as far as we could, but they disappeared once they hit the new roads. They do match though, definitely Ellie’s car.” 

“And her phone?” he asked, already knowing and dreading the answer. 

“Found it in her jacket.” Brian walked into the frame. “Won’t be able to find her that way.” 

Seeing Brian made Alec’s stomach lurch, but he needed to ask the question. 

“Her jacket...the blood…” he couldn’t fully ask it. Luckily Brian took pity on him. 

“Not just hers.” he explained with a slight grin. “Wherever they are, she got in some solid hits herself. That’s why there was so much of it.” 

Everyone on the bed sighed in relief. She was hurt, but not nearly as bad as they’d feared...or at least as far as they knew. 

“I’m sorry we don’t have more, Sir.” Katie apologized. “But everyone’s here and they’re not going home until we find her.” 

“I...I appreciate that, Hartford.” he nodded in genuine appreciation and Katie smiled somberly. 

“We’ll call you the second we know anything else.” Jenkinson added. “Get some rest.” 

She ended the call before he could protest. Tom hit the bed as he stood up. 

“Tom-” 

“How can they not know anything?!” he shouted. “It’s been two bloody days!” 

“Tom!” Beth started, but Alec stopped her. 

“I know it’s frustrating, lad, but-” 

“No!” Tom yelled at him. “No, we don’t know where mum is and they’re not doing their jobs! How are you so calm about this? What is wrong with you?!” 

“I have to be calm about this, Tom!” Hardy shouted right back at him, his heart be damned. Tom finally deflated a bit, but Hardy could see anger turning to fear behind his eyes. “That is what my job is; it’s staying calm when everything is falling to bits because if I don’t, then nothing gets done!” 

“Mum isn’t a job.” Tom muttered softly. Alec broke and didn’t bother to hide the tears. 

“No, no she’s not.” he cried. 

Beth hurriedly guided Daisy and Chloe to the door. 

“Girls, why don’t you and Tom go and play with Lizzie and Fred for a bit. Give Mark a break, yeah?” 

The kids left a wake of worry behind them, but did as they were told. Beth went back to sit beside Alec. 

“I can’t do this.” he cried. “I can’t think about her, about what  _ he _ might be doing to her, I can’t Beth.” 

“I know.” Beth promised. “I don’t think we ever can.” 

Alec rolled over and Beth gently pulled his head into her lap. To her surprise, he didn’t fight it at all. Instead, this dreadful man she thought she always hated curled up and sobbed like a frightened child. She was so, so wrong about him for so long. 

“Last week, Ellie and I went to the chippy.” she started gently. “Thought it was just a girls’ day, but she said she had to talk about somethin’. She told me Tom had joked about how if you two got married, he’d be Thomas Hardy and he could neva go to English class again. She started cryin’, sayin’ she didn’t know how to get a divorce from Joe when no one knew where ‘e was, but if she could...if she could, she’d kill a man to make Tom’s joke come true.” Alec’s sobs subsided a bit and he sat up in wonder. “She loves you, Alec. Grumpy, Scottish pain in the arse, I don’t know why she chose you, but she did, and you better believe she’s gonna fight tooth and nail to come back and be Mrs. Hardy.” 

Alec’s fingers released their grip on Beth’s arm and his breathing mellowed, sorrow replaced with determination. Alec, Ellie, Daisy, Tom, and Fred Hardy. That was a dream he could fight for too. 

The computer screen lit up with a call-waiting notification and Alec nearly knocked the damn thing over in an effort to answer it. 

“What is it? What’s happened?” he asked desperately. To his mild disgust, Olly came into view. “What the hell are you doing there, Oliver?” 

“Play nice, Hardy,” Jenkinson scolded, “you’ll thank him in a minute.” 

Alec’s eyebrows rose off his head. There was no bloody way Oliver had cracked this. 

“We found Aunt Ellie’s car!” Olly exclaimed. “Everyone’s on their way out now to search the surrounding area!” 

Alec and Beth nearly screamed with joy. 

“Olly, that’s amazing!” Beth cried. Alec tried to get out of bed and Beth’s excitement turned to disbelief. “Oh no, you bloody don’t.” 

“Sod off, I’m going.” Alec got his feet to the ground before Beth pushed him back into bed. 

“Hardy, I promise, we’ll tell you the second we find her.” Jenkinson tried to reassure. “You’re no use to use like this.” 

“She needs me.” he fought. 

“She needs you ALIVE!” Beth shouted in his ear. He winced. “I will drive you to her as soon as they find her, Alec, but so help me if you don’t stay in this bed…” 

Alec relented, glaring. The years had certainly hardened Beth. Even Ellie didn’t scare him quite like this. 

“Wait.” he called out, noticing a hand going to end the call. “How did you find the car?” 

Olly grinned like the fucking Cheshire Cat and Jenkinson rolled her eyes. 

“Put out a call on ‘bloody twittah’,  _ Uncle _ Alec.” 

Beth snatched the laptop out of his hands before he could smash it. 

* * *

“Fuck, come on, just a bit...futher…DAMMIT!” 

The pocket knife remained just out of reach, no matter what she did and now she was exhausted on the floor with Joe likely due back any minute. She originally assumed she could just move the bed and grab it, but it turned out it was bolted to the floor. 

_ “Why the fuck is a bed bolted to the floor in a shack??”  _

Because of that, she’d spent the past god knows how long trying to stretch to reach the far corner where her prize lay, but it was no use. She couldn’t get the right angle with her hands bound. The only good thing that had come from her struggle was that she was no longer at risk of hypothermia. 

_ “He put you in a dress...in October...and left you here…”  _

Suddenly she was starting to doubt Joe’s motives for winning her back. Not that that was a road she wanted to go down. She’d spent months in therapy trying to convince herself that she was at all sexually desirable after Joe’s confession and then months more when she realized she wanted to sleep with Alec. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t about her. She had to be a means to an end...didn’t she? 

_ “Stop it. Stop it right now.”  _

“Right.” she sighed. She needed to either get the knife or get back on the bed. 

Deciding it was worth one more shot, she inched her way forward into the darkness. Her hands crawled towards the knife through layers of dust and dead insects. Every single part of her body ached, but she kept telling herself she could stretch just...that...much...further…

Her middle finger bumped something solid. 

She nearly wrenched her arms out of their sockets when she thrust forward, but the feel of the knife in her fist was enough to take away the pain. 

_ “Good girl, Eleanor.”  _

“What the fuck are you doing?!” 

_ “No!”  _

Bone-crushing hands grabbed her ankles and yanked her out from under the bed so hard she scraped her face on the splintering floor. The metallic taste of blood pooled on her lips. 

“Now, look what you’ve done to yourself Ellie. Can’t have that.” 

Her hands tightened around the knife.


	4. Don't Ask Me to Imagine a Future Without You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie and Joe fight, Katie has a hunch, and no one is okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See the end for notes - I'm going to spoil a small thing at the end because I feel that it's necessary in order to keep reading. 
> 
> Also, this chapter took FOREVER because I'm 100% more confident at writing dialogue than writing action and then I chose to write an action fic like a dumbass. OH WELL. I hope you like it!

It seemed that every formative moment in Ellie Miller’s life was marked by blood. Lucy, by all reports, had come into the world clean as a whistle, but little Eleanor emerged drenched in her mother’s near-death hemorrhage. Her first day on the job ended in a bloody nose, courtesy of a drunken fool, and, the EMT who attended to her was Joe. The day he proposed to her on the cliffs, she sliced her leg open on a piece of broken bottle when their celebrations got too heated. Both of her sons were born after the doctors cut her open, and her marriage was dissolved in murder. 

The first time she knew she was falling for Alec, she was sitting across from him after his surgery, panicking that she might never get to yell at him for texting her. 

It seemed only fitting that she might end her life in blood as well.

“Let me go, Joe.” she ordered, cringing at the hint of pleading behind her words. “Let me go, and I’ll tell them you left me here. You can run anywhere you like.” God, it hurt her lips to talk. Small, wooden splinters sliced deeper with every smallest movement across her face. 

“I think we both know that’s not gonna happen, El.” he sneered. “The minute they see you like this, they won’t stop, and I am sick of hiding, I won’t do it anymore.” he paused, knowing what he wanted, but unsure of how to get it. “The only way out of this is to come with me and be a family again.” 

“No.” she spat. 

“You can call Tom and have him meet us with Fred.” 

“I said no, you sick fuck!” she hollered. The thought of her boys gave her the strength to throw her entire body into Joe and they slammed to the ground. The impact knocked the wind clean out of her and Joe quickly turned them to pin her to the floor. Ellie gasped in pain as her head hit the wood. She was getting really damn tired of being hit in the head. She didn’t have time to be angry though. In seconds, Joe had his hands around her throat while his knees held her down and bore into her sore muscles. 

“Gettt...offf…” her nails scratched against his hands, but he appeared to not care about the streams of blood running down his fingers and onto her face. 

“I’ve killed before, Ellie!” he shouted, veins bursting from his brow. “What makes you think I won’t do it again?!” The man who screamed Danny’s death was an accident was gone. 

_ “God, how long has he been gone?”  _

She couldn’t breathe. She just needed one breath. Just one single breath. 

His knee slipped, freeing her leg. With spots in her eyes, she yanked her knee up into his groin and his grip released long enough for her to shakily stand up and stagger away. His blurred form writhed and spat curses at her. 

_ “Focus, Ellie, come on. FOCUS!”  _

The glint of the knife she’d dropped in the scuffle grinned at her from just an arm’s reach away, but Joe’s gaze saw it just as brightly. Two bodies in desperation dove for the tiny piece of metal. Joe’s hand closed around it first. 

_ “Fuck, no.”  _

Ellie slammed her elbow down into his bent arm and briefly cringed at the feeling of pure satisfaction as the bone snapped and her husband screamed in pain. 

“You bitch!” he snarled and grabbed at her with his free hand, ripping the back of her dress. “This is your fault, this is all your fault!” 

“No!” Ellie got the knife open and spun around on the floor. The sharp point of the blade pointed towards his face as her hand shook from adrenaline and pure exhaustion. Time stopped. His eyes bore into her. Daring her. 

“Go, on.” he spat. “Do it.” There was malice behind his words, but despite everything, Ellie could see the flicker of fear in his eyes; the knowledge that he’d lost control once again; the horror at the thought that his loving wife of 12 years might actually kill him. It sickened her. 

_ “He doesn’t deserve your mercy.”  _

“None of it is my fault.” she said with absolute certainty for the first time in years. “You lied to me. You lied to Tom. You lied to everyone.  _ You _ killed Danny.  _ You _ sat in Beth and Mark’s home and  _ comforted _ them.” 

Her hand was slowly steadying. 

“You lay with your arms around Tom in our bed.” tears started slipping down her cheek. “I would come home from trying to find Danny’s  _ murderer _ and see the two of your together. You held our son in bed after MURDERING HIS BEST FRIEND!” 

She lost it and lunged. He threw his hand up to stop the knife and the blade went through like butter as Joe cried out. He fell backwards onto his back and a small set of keys fell from his shirt pocket. 

_ “Run, you idiot!”  _

Ellie leapt forward to grab the keys and screamed as sharp, agonizing pain spread through her thigh. She looked down to see Joe’s hand covered in blood and a blue handle protruding from her body. 

_ “Now or never, Ellie!”  _

Against her better judgement, she yanked the knife from her own skin and sent it blindly plunging downward with all her strength before limping to the door and escaping into the cool air. 

* * *

Katie Hartford paced back and forth as Brian and his team scoured Ellie’s car for traces of any indication of where she might be. Her radio constantly crackled with the sounds of search team leaders calling in with nothing. They had to do better than this. 

Her loyalty to her prickly DI and overbearing DS was hard won, but it was powerful. Almost a year after Ellie Miller had dragged her through the mud for her stupidity on the Winterman case, Katie (out of a job and feeling restless) had ended up covertly investigating a string of robberies throughout the town. After every potential suspect in Broadchurch had been eliminated, it was Katie who sheepishly showed up at the station with a strong hunch and a compelling spreadsheet that indicated the thief was actually living outside of Broadchurch and making their way through the smaller farming districts. 

With the robber behind bars, both Alec and Ellie had gone to bat for her in front of Jenkinson to get her reinstated and for that, she would owe them a lifetime of favors. 

She couldn’t let them down now. Not when the stakes were this high. 

Her phone chirped and her stomach clenched as her texts from ‘HARDY’ reached 27. She just couldn’t bring herself to answer him until they had something. He didn’t want Ellie’s car, he wanted Ellie. 

A minute later, her phone pinged again with a text from ‘BETH LATIMER, COUNSEL’. 

“Fucking hell.” 

She opened that one.

_ I can’t keep him here forever, can you just give him SOMETHING?  _

Katie sighed. No, she really couldn’t. What the hell was she supposed to say? Hey boss, we have your girlfriend’s car and there are blood stains in it, but the field is too overrun for us to track footsteps and Joe left his phone in the car, so we can’t try and trace-

She was so stupid. 

“Oh for Christ’s sake...HUTCHINSON!” A young, eager, but focused tech came bounding over. “Get me a pair of gloves and Joe Miller’s phone bag.” Hutchinson’s face fell. He didn’t want a bollocking for mishandling evidence, especially on this case. 

“But, Ma’am-” 

“Now, Hutchinson!” A part of Katie smiled. It turned out there were perks to learning under Alec Hardy. 

* * *

“Right. Right, no. That’s good.” 

Beth, Tom, and Daisy looked on hopefully and in utter frustration as Alec barely responded on his end of the phone. 

“Thanks, Hartford.” Alec hung up the call, eyes disheartened. 

“Well?” Daisy asked hopefully. The search parties had been at it for hours, surely there had to be some kind of news. Her dad’s face said otherwise, though, and it sunk her stomach to the floor. 

“Nothing yet.” Alec replied dismally. “Search parties haven’t found anything and so far nothing of significance in her car. Hartford has Joe’s phone and is looking through it, but it’s a burner. Said she’s got a hunch of someone she could talk to, but nothing concrete-” 

He was interrupted by Tom aggressively kicking the closet. Seemed the Miller temper was hereditary, though whether it was Joe’s or Ellie’s would haunt the poor boy for the rest of his life. 

“We will find her, Tom.” Alec insisted, though he was growing more and more unsure and heartbroken by the second. Tom seemed to calm in everyone’s eyes, but not in Alec’s. That wasn’t calm. That was the serenity of being so far past fear and anger that you could barely feel anything anymore. Not a feeling he’d wish on anyone, certainly not a boy he hoped to one day call his son. 

“What if you don’t?” Tom’s question hung ominously in the air. There were too many possibilities that none of them wanted to name. Everyone was also avoiding that Alec never reassured them they would find her alive, he merely said they’d find her. Death had already stained them. They didn’t know if they could survive it a second time. 

* * *

Katie refreshed her email for the five hundredth time that hour. She hadn’t spoken to Jeremiah since the academy, but his reputation had grown wildly since he ditched field work to pursue a job in London as a known “tech supervisor”  _ (“Hacker”, she thought. Bloody coopers.)  _ It was a long shot calling him, but she supposed he still harbored some feelings from their time together since he told her he’d email her within the hour. 

He had five more minutes. 

Finally, she refreshed and an unread email from J. Frankel popped up. She owed him a long-overdue kiss when she saw him next. 

Scanning the email, her heart began to beat out through her chest. She was right. There were only two places in the coastal districts between Sheffield and Broadchurch to get a burner phone and one happened to be surreptitiously monitored by the police since the owner had a nasty habit of also pointing his customers towards abandoned properties - for a fee, of course. This was it. 

* * *

In desperate need of distraction, Beth agreed to help Alec downstairs with Mark’s help so he could be on the couch and they could all be with Fred and Lizzie. Under any other circumstances, Alec would’ve felt ridiculous and humiliated being tucked in like a child, but he was slowly going numb with terror as he began to feel phantom vibrations of his phone against his hand. Fred also wasn’t the pick-me-up anyone had hoped for. He wanted Ellie desperately and no one would tell him where she was. Lizzie must’ve picked up on the mood as well, as neither child seemed to have any interest in so much as smiling. Mark was grateful for the break as well. Trying to play with two distraught and disinterested toddlers was hard enough without his own worries for his friends. 

The tedious, awful passing of time saw the Hardy, Miller, and Latimer households staring into the unknown, watching the grey skies turn to black as night set in. 

The Latimers knew this feeling all too well and it wasn’t one any of them wanted to revisit, but there was nothing to say anymore. They were all waiting for a call. At the end of the day, a call would mean they found Ellie in one way or another and they’d all be frantically rushing to hospital or screaming and sobbing as the rug got ripped out from under their lives once again. 

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 

Alec was going to break every bloody clock in the house just to stop the incessant noise. 

Once, he raised his phone to call Katie, but lowered it again with a glance to Beth. She would call if there was news. He didn’t know if he wanted news anymore. 

Silence gripped them once again until all of them were startled by frantic banging on the door so loud it sent Fred and Lizzie into hysterics. Mark jumped up and raced to answer it, gesturing for everyone else to stay back. The thought nearly froze Beth. She hadn’t thought of the possibility of Joe coming after them until that moment. 

Luckily that particular fear was short lived as Katie barged past Mark into the sitting room. The entire group shot to attention and for once, Alec was grateful for Katie’s blunt nature. 

“I’ve got uniforms heading to two locations. We’ve got an approximate on where Joe might be hiding out and...” Katie paused and looked at the group. The next bit was harder. Alec paled. 

“And the...the other location?” he asked so quietly the words barely left his mouth. Katie’s voice wavered a bit and her shaking hands betrayed her. 

“I put out a shout to the local news in nearby communities just in case...station got a call about half an hour ago, but I had to tell you in person-” 

“Hartford.” Alec pleaded. 

“Couple taking a late walk on the beach just up the coast in Shanning reported a woman matching Ellie’s description. They said...they said ‘there’s a woman’s body on the beach’. Sir, I...I’m so sorry.” 

Beth didn’t even try to stop Alec from storming out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you close your tab, you won't be spoiled, BUT (read below...  
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You'll notice that this fic is NOT tagged with Major Character Death and it's an honest lack of tag. Trust me when I say I would tag that shit. Two more chapters to get these kids back together.


	5. Finder's Keeper's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding Ellie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is largely Alec and Ellie introspection, but HERE WE GO. One more chapter (and maybe an epilogue?) after this! Thank you so much for your incredible support of this story!

_ “You look a right mess, what happened?” Ellie handed him a cup of tea with a practiced hand and concern in her eyes for the man who called her at 2am asking to come over.  _

_ “Domestic disturbance shout.” he said, haunted.  _

_ “I’m sorry.” she really was. “Did something happen? Not that it’s not always bad, but…”  _

_ “Wife was dead by the time we got there. Her husband was barely breathing himself. He’ll be alright. Not sure he wants to be…”  _

_ “It wasn’t the husband?”  _

_ Alec’s hands were shaking and Ellie rescued the tea before he could scald himself, replacing the cup with her own, steady palms.  _

_ “Alec?”  _

_ “It was her ex. History of violence and abuse, but he was never put away…” Ellie’s face fell. “I couldn’t sleep, I...when I closed my eyes, I didn’t see her, I saw you. Bleeding and lying on the ground at Joe’s hand because I couldn’t put him away-”  _

_ “Stop!” Ellie insisted. “Alec, that isn’t going to happen.”  _

_ “You don’t know that!” He snapped. Ellie actually looked taken aback. They fought constantly, but it had been a long time since he’d genuinely yelled at her. Whatever this man did to his ex-wife had truly terrified him.  _

_ “He’s gone, love.” Ellie promised. “He’s a coward at heart and we scared him good. He’s not coming back.”  _

_ Her voice was so sure and so convinced and in desperation, he needed to believe her, so he did.  _

_ “Come on up to bed-” _

“Shit!” Alec swore as he jerked his car halfway off the road. The other driver flipped him off and leaned on the horn as he passed. Alec didn’t blame him, after all, he was the one barely looking at the road. It really was one of his stupider ideas to jump in the car and drive to Shanning, but he had to know. He had to see her. Katie wasn’t right. There was absolutely no way Katie was right and he was going to prove it even if it meant leaving a trail of car wrecks in his wake apparently. 

Ellie was not dead. Ellie was not dead. 

If he said it enough it was going to be true. 

His mobile sounded off again and a quick glance down showed him a slew of missed texts and calls from nearly everyone who knew him. He turned the phone on silent and put it upside down on the passenger seat. He wasn’t talking to anyone. Not until he saw her. Not until he knew. 

_ “We’re not all alone.”  _

“The fuck did you know, Miller?!” he slammed his hand hard on the dash and the pain through his palm was almost a relief; a small sliver of familiarity. 

The truth was, he’d spent so long making peace with being alone that he’d nearly forgotten how to do anything else. It took him and Ellie so long to take that first step for a long list of tragic reasons, but one of them, a large one, was that he didn’t know how. Ellie lived her life in her emotions. Even after Danny’s case, and Pippa and Lisa’s case had hardened her, she still couldn’t help but connect. It was who she was. 

_ “Is, don’t you dare say was. She still bloody is.”  _

Ellie was everything he wasn’t. Despite who he turned out to be, Alec always saw Joe as the perfect match for her. He was attentive, funny, sent flowers to her at the station even when it embarrassed her. Alec didn’t know how to give her that. Even before Sandbrook, he’d never been that type of lover. 

Ellie had cracked him open. Ellie had spilled him whole onto the sidewalk and put him back together again and now…

Now, he wasn’t so sure he would survive without her. His expected role, if Hartford was right. would be to take care of Daisy and the boys. He felt like a complete failure at the realization that he didn’t know if he could do it. He didn’t know if he could live everyday seeing Ellie in Fred’s eyes and Tom’s smile. He didn’t know if he could face the boys ever again as the man who arrested their father and failed to save their mother. 

_ “You haven’t failed yet.”  _

But he would. He always did. 

_ “Ellie looks at her sons every damn day and sees her husband, are you really so weak that you would refuse to see her?”  _

Alec wiped his eyes and forced himself to focus on the road. Shanning was only 30 more minutes away. 

* * *

Cold. She was so, so cold. 

_ “Good luck convincing Alec to let another orange monstrosity into your life.”  _

Not that she’d want it after what happened to the last one. If she recalled correctly, they came in other colors. Maybe she could get them matching ones for Christmas if she managed to figure out where she was. Her entire soul shivered again. 

“Christ, it’s freezing.” 

“It’s not like that for long, Mrs. Miller.” 

The soft voice of a young boy startled her and she turned around, surprised to find she was standing in the first place. All her breath left her on a single word. 

“Danny.” 

* * *

“For God’s sake!” Alec hollered against the unsympathetic walls of his car. He’d been a fool not to expect traffic. Danny’s murder had shut down the roads for miles. 

_ “No, no, no, not murder. Not murder.”  _

In the back of his mind, he could hear Ellie telling him about Beth. Back when she was still blaming herself for not knowing what Joe was. 

_ “Maybe Beth was right, maybe I should’ve known.” Ellie sniffled in his uncomfortable hotel room chair. “She said she ran for the beach when she heard about a body because something in her just knew. Her mother’s instinct knew her boy was in danger. What if that’s it? What if I’m a horrible, unfit mum because I didn’t know?” She curled into a sobbing ball. Alec wanted to hold her, to tell her she was wrong, but they weren’t there yet. She wouldn’t take that kind of affection from him.  _

_ “She was already worried about Danny before she knew anything about a body, Miller. You had no reason to suspect Joe. I was over at your house for dinner and I didn’t suspect anything either.”  _

_ “OH, I’M SORRY, I DIDN’T REALIZE YOU WERE ALSO MARRIED TO HIM FOR TWELVE YEARS!”  _

_ He instinctively dodged the desk lamp she hurled at his head, but he wasn’t sure he deserved the miss.  _

_ “I just meant...gut feelings...they don’t always come when we need them. All we can do is try and stay truthful when they do. Try and follow through.”  _

His gut was screaming at him that Ellie was alive, even if no one else knew. 

He abandoned his car on the bumper-to-bumper road and ran for the shoreline. 

* * *

“It’s okay, Mrs. Miller.” Danny assured her with a genuine smile. 

Ellie fell to her knees. 

Or didn’t, really. 

Her shock at seeing Danny turned quickly to confusion at the lack of impact on her legs. She didn’t feel anything when she hit the floor. She didn’t feel any of her injuries, come to think of it. All she felt was unrelentingly freezing…

_ “Oh, God.”  _

“You’re not dead.” Danny seemed to read her mind. “Not quite. Though, the doctors should probably get a move-on.” 

“Are you really here?” Ellie asked, bewildered and utterly terrified. “Are you really Danny?” 

The boy shrugged. 

“I think so. Haven’t had a body in a while.” he said simply. “I know you’re Ellie Miller.” 

The sound of her surname in Danny’s mouth would’ve sent her hurling if she were able to feel nauseous.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not angry at you.” Danny insisted. Ellie looked up in surprise. “I think I’ve been waiting a long time to tell you that. I was angry. For a long time. At Joe and Tom. But never at you. You were never anything but nice to me.”

“I didn’t know, Danny,” she cried, “I swear I didn’t know.” 

“I know you didn’t.” he promised. Body or no body, Ellie felt years of worthlessness fall away. Years of guilt so deep she thought she would drown, years of feeling so disgusted with every cell in her body, years of praying Joe had killed her instead - it all fell away. Without sensation, they took each other’s hands. Two souls so torn by one act. 

“There’s something else you should know.” Danny continued, though he seemed slightly less sure now, as though he were delivering a message and not his own words. “You shouldn’t feel bad about DI Hardy. If I hadn’t died, I was going to tell my dad about Joe the next day. He still would’ve been arrested and you and DI Hardy still would’ve grown close over it. It was inevitable, or that’s what they said.” 

“They?” she questioned, still reeling. 

“I don’t know.” Danny replied honestly. His head jerked up and he listened intently, though Ellie couldn’t hear a thing. “I think DI Hardy’s calling for you.” Ellie listened, but still heard nothing. “You’ll hear him soon, don’t worry.” She looked up sharply. It was odd having Danny somehow in her head. “Bye, Mrs. Miller.” 

The pain throughout her body surged back through her blood and bones as her vision faded back to black. 

* * *

Alec barely had her in view before he was shouting her name. The sound of the waves drowned him out and fell on his heart, but he could see her. She had to hear him. She had to come back. 

“ELLIE!” 

A pair of arms grabbed him. 

“Sir, you need to stay back! This is an active crime scene!” The poor officer on security couldn’t have been more than a couple of months out of training. Poor lad. 

“I’m a detective, ELLIE!” the officer continued to hold him. “LET ME GO, I’LL HAVE YOU SACKED!” 

“We’re under strict orders to wait for the Broadchurch police, sir!” The young officer was struggling madly. Days in the gym hadn’t prepared him for the brute strength of a desperate loved one. 

“I AM THE BLOODY BROADCHURCH POLICE!” Alec hollered. He shoved the officer off him and threw his badge in his face before ducking under the tape. He cursed every grain of sand between them. This was why he hated beaches. They made the entire world run in slow-motion. 

Inch by inch, he drew closer and closer, until finally he fell to the sand beside her and wretched. 

He’d seen so many injured and dead this far into his career, but none of them had prepared him for this. 

Ellie. His sweet, firecracker Ellie was pale, bloodied, and nearly butchered. He couldn’t protect her and now she was lying on the ground, face cut in jagged stripes, blood pooling out of her leg, bruised nearly beyond recognition. He took her hand to feel for a pulse and gasped. What was blue from bruising or blue from possible hypothermia, he couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter though. Only one thing mattered. 

“Ellie.” he whispered, voice cracking. Tears were freezing as they slid down his cheeks. “Ellie, love, please wake up. I need you to wake up.” He lay his head against hers, praying to a god he didn’t believe in. “Please, Miller.” 

It was so soft, he wouldn’t have heard it had it not been for the puff of air against his cheek.

“Alec.” 

“SIR! You can’t touch the body without gloves!” The Shanning SOCO had evidently arrived, and he couldn’t give a sodding fuck. 

“She’s alive.” he breathed, sobbing with joy and disbelief. 

_ “Alive and injured, you wanker.”  _ His subconscious was starting to sound a lot like Ellie these days... 

“Medic! She’s alive! I need a medic!” Ellie’s single utterance of his name had him running around with more energy than he’d ever felt before. The security officer, looking horrified that he’d let a live victim lie freezing on the cold beach, radioed immediately, and then it was all a blur. Sirens wailed, people yelled, phone calls were made, spectators gathered, and his own EMT shoved him into a separate ambulance after his blood pressure was deemed highly unsatisfactory. 

None of that mattered though. 

Alec wore a shit eating grin through the whole thing because Ellie was alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry y'all. Grapes are coming.


	6. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie wakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated the story to 7 chapters because there's 100% going to be an epilogue. I just wanted this to stand on its own. :)

Ellie slowly came to against the steady sound of a heart monitor. Sleepily, she felt instinctual annoyance before anything else. The smell of the hospital irritated her. 

_ “What the hell has Alec done to himself this time?”  _

She felt achy all over, but that was nothing new. She’d probably fallen asleep in a damned chair at his bedside again. Well, he could make it up to her with a neck massage when he inevitably discharged himself…

_ “Ow, bloody hell.”  _

She froze in pain and panic as her body seized against her desire to move. Her fist clenched against the onslaught and she felt the IV tug against the skin on the back of her hand. 

_ "Oh my god, it’s me. It’s not Alec, it’s me.”  _

In seconds, irritation gave way to full anxiety. Her skin prickled, her head spun, her lungs felt like they would burst from her chest. The heart monitor sky-rocketed. She was drowning. She couldn’t breathe. Her limbs were glued to the table as if tied with rope…

“Mrs. Miller!” a no-nonsense voice shouted somewhere around her. “Mrs. Miller, can you hear me?” 

_ “Make it stop, please make it stop.”  _

The voice shouted for a sedative and then everything went black. 

* * *

_ “Hardy” Poke, poke, poke. “Harrrdyyyyy.” She poked him again, but he didn’t sir. “Oh for God’s sake, HARDY!”  _

_ “Whaaa?” he muttered sleepily. His hair was sorted in every direction and it took him a moment to register she was even in bed with him. Who knew he was such a heavy sleeper? “Miller? It’s...4 in the morning, go back to sleep.” He tried to roll over, but she stopped him.  _

_ “I can’t sleep, you wanker, you stole the covers.”  _

_ “Nu-uhh.” he attempted to deny it, but a glance down showed he was indeed wrapped up like a little burrito while Ellie was sporting goosebumps. “Oh, sorry.”  _

_ A few uncoordinated shifts later had them sharing again and Ellie curled up against him in search of warmth, their bare chests reminding them both of how they’d ended up together at 4am in the first place.  _

_ “Never took you for a blanket thief.” She remarked. “You didn’t take them during Sandbrook.”  _

_ “I didn’t sleep during Sandbrook.” he corrected.  _

_ “What?” Ellie asked, genuinely confused. “You were faking?”  _

_ “You needed the rest.” he shrugged. “Didn’t want to bother you...not that I want to bother you now, just…”  _

_ “What?” she encouraged.  _

_ “I sleep now...cause of you, I mean.” he confessed quietly. “Having you next to me. Best sleep I’ve had in years.”  _

_ Ellie beamed.  _

_ “Me too.”  _

Behind the haze of morphine, Ellie swore she smelled his aftershave.

* * *

The next time Ellie woke, albeit briefly, it was to the sound of what had to be growling bears. She hazily turned her head the smallest bit and felt a short moment of peace at the sight of her sons fast asleep against Alec, all three snoring loud enough to bring the hospital down. 

She smiled as a pulse of drugs drew her back under. 

* * *

_ It was cold. So damn cold.  _

_ “Joe, please.”  _

_ She was freezing, beyond freezing, so cold she was almost warm. _

_ “Please let me go.”  _

_ “I can’t do that Ellie.”  _

_ “I’m so cold.”  _

_ “I can warm you up.”  _

_ “No!”  _

_ “You can have me or you can freeze to death, Ellie. It’s your choice.”  _

_ “Please!”  _

_ Darkness surrounded her. Tom was screaming. Fred was screaming.  _

_ “Mumma!” _

_ “NO PLEASE!”  _

“No, no, no, please!” 

“El, wake up.” Someone was rubbing her arm. “Ellie, love, come on.” 

She gasped and coughed her way into consciousness, clinging to the hand that refused to let her go as she dry heaved against her impossibly arid throat. Every single breath of air burned her lungs and her blood still raced from the images of Joe’s eyes. Something cold poked at her lips. 

“Come on, El, that’s it.” 

She closed her eyes and slowly calmed as she sucked on the piece of ice from kind hands. 

_ “Alec’s hands…”  _

Her eyes opened and the world came into focus to reveal a thoroughly sleep-deprived, unshaven, skinny man; looking at her like his entire universe had just been handed back to him covered in gold. 

“Hi.” she rasped. 

“Hi.” he choked. His face fell for a moment and he hopped off the bed to rummage through his bag. 

“Alec?” she whispered. She tried to sit up to see what he was doing, but it hurt to even consider, so she resigned herself to waiting for his return. A short wait. 

“Store didn’t have green ones,” he plopped a semi-expected bag of purple grapes down by her side, “but I figured these were just as good.” She looked between him and the grapes. She could’ve cried at his hopeful eagerness to please her, to make sure she was alright. 

“The purple ones actually have seeds, you knob.” 

Alec looked in despair at the packaging which confirmed Ellie’s jab and burst into tears. 

“Oh, love.” She couldn’t really hold him like she desperately wanted to, but she managed to position him next to her chest so she could run her fingers through his hair; hair which steadily grew damper as her own tears joined his. 

There was so much they needed to talk about, but this was necessary first. They’d done this the other way round just after they’d gotten together. A panicked suspect pushed Alec off a pier overlook and into the sea in an attempt to escape. It wasn’t a far drop, but it was too much for his pacemaker to handle between the cold and his fears of water. When he’d woken in the hospital, he was somewhat shocked to find Ellie devoid of all sarcasm. In the place of berating him, she’d simply clung to his chest and sobbed. 

A ramification of their relationship neither had ever considered. 

He hadn’t really known what to do with it at the time, but now, oh, now he got it. Not being overwhelmed with tears of sadness or relief, but simply being so overwhelmed by emotions that they had to be cried out, no matter what they were. She was awake and physically healing and he was...spent, honestly. Christ, he was tired. 

A soft knock at the door interrupted them. 

“Sorry to intrude,” a kind-eyed nurse who seemed genuinely apologetic smiled at them, “I just need to check Mrs. Miller’s vitals now she’s awake.” 

“Of course.” Alec acquiesced. He shifted off of Ellie, but remained glued to her side as the nurse examined her and the army of equipment around her bed. Ellie couldn’t help but follow the nurse’s every move and it broke Alec to see how every analysis seemed to make her fall away from him behind her eyes. She wasn’t stupid. She might still be struggling with whether or not she was ready to remember what happened to her, but she knew how to read evidence. She shut her eyes when the nurse turned to examine her face. The pity and sympathy from the other woman was too much to bear. She must look ghastly.

“Your children are in the cafeteria, Mrs. Miller, Mr. Hardy.” Apparently the examination was finished. “Would you like for me to have them sent up?” 

“Yes.”

“No.” 

Alec looked at her in confusion, then realize she was also refusing to look at him. 

“I’ll go fetch them in a bit.” he remedied. “Thank you.” 

“Of course, sir.” the nurse disappeared and Ellie continued to stare steadfastly at the ceiling. 

“El-” 

“How bad is it?” she asked bluntly. 

“We don’t have to talk about what happened yet-” 

“I know what happened, Alec.” she snapped, though the weakness of her voice took her usual bite out of her. “I need to see.” 

“Ellie-” 

“I won’t see the kids until I know what they’re in for.” 

He knew there was no sense in arguing with her, and he understood completely, even if he wanted to protect her from the risk of her own self-loathing. He reluctantly opened his phone to the camera and passed it to her. 

The cry she let out at the sight of her face was guttural and she bat his hands out of the way when he tried to reach for her. 

“Don’t touch me!” she cried. “Don’t you dare touch me and tell me everything’s okay!” 

“Ellie, please,” he tried, prying the phone away from her, “the kids have already been up here, they know, it would help them so much to see you’re awake.” 

“How can you look at me?” 

The question cut to his core because it wasn’t the first time she’d asked him that in a fit of tears. The first time was after they’d made love at her place rather than his for once and despite the paint on the walls, she’d broken down at the thought of him touching her where Joe had touched her. His answer now was exactly the same as it had been then. 

“Because you’re you.” he promised. “Because everything else in the world is full of pain and malice and anger, but when I look at you, yes,  _ even now _ , especially now, all I can see is hope.” She managed to look up at him, but just barely. 

“He ruined me.” she whispered. “I didn’t think he could do any more, but he did.” 

“No, he didn’t.” Alec insisted. “He didn’t the first time because you came out the other side with your friends intact and your family as together as it could be without him, and he hasn’t this time because you’re here. You’re here with me, with Tom, with Fred, with Daisy, with the Latimers, with everyone who loves you and he’s…” 

_ “Oh shit,”  _ Alec thought,  _ “didn’t mean to go there.”  _

“And he’s what, Alec?” The thought of Joe’s fate seemed to snap Ellie out of her current misery and send her straight into another. “He’s  _ what? _ ” Panic began to bubble once more inside her chest. Her memories were, unfortunately, largely intact with the exception of the details of her escape. The last thing she remembered was fighting with Joe and then waking up in the hospital. If she’d made it out, did that mean that she’d… “Oh god, did I kill him?” 

“No!” Alec shouted a little too loudly, but she didn’t need anymore stress and he wasn’t about to let her start down that road. “No, god, no, you didn’t.” She calmed a bit, but she also caught his turn of phrase. 

“I didn’t,” she reasoned, “but someone did.” 

“I don’t know that you’d call it killing.” Alec spoke softly. She stared at him, she needed to know. “Officers and a search party found where he’d been keeping you, but he wasn’t there. Not too difficult to find though, he was tracking quite the blood trail. By the time they caught up to him, he was nearly on the cliffs. He was delirious, shouting about finding you, about how I took you away and everyone needed to leave your family alone. Uniforms tried to take him in, but he kept backing up, and...well, you know.” 

“No one stopped him.” Ellie filled in the blanks. The silence of Joe’s death permeated the air around them. Ellie wasn’t sure if she was relieved or sad that she didn’t feel more. “How did they find the place?” she asked, desperately needing to change the subject. 

“Katie.” Alec explained with a small smile. “She’s really holding her own. Couldn’t have gotten through this without her.” 

Ellie smiled a bit, but the sadness of it all still weighed pervasively on her. 

“Alec?” She asked meekly - not a word he every thought he’d use to describe her voice. “What if the scars don’t go away? The bruising will fade, I know that, and I know I’ve never really been vain, but-” 

He kissed her so softly their lips barely touched in fear of hurting her, but he lingered, pressing feather-light lips against her own until he felt the tension release from her jaw. 

“Beth and Daisy moved us into your place two days after you were taken and I sold the flat after you were found.” he remarked, hand cupping her face. “So unless you want me to move back into the Traders under Becca’s watch…” 

“Shut up and get the kids.” her hint of a smile was all the reassurance he needed. 

“Yes, Miller.” he obeyed. 

“Barrett.” Ellie corrected. Alec paused. 

“Hmm?” 

“Joe’s dead. Not Mrs. Miller anymore.” she replied simply. “My maiden name, it’s Barrett.” 

“I like it.” said Alec. 

Ellie watched him leave and glanced down at her hands. She could still see the ever-present line where her wedding ring rested for 12 years. Despite it all, under all the worry, and the trauma, and the healing she knew they all still needed, she couldn’t help but hope that she wouldn’t be Barrett for very long. 

Alec’s phone buzzed on the table beside her and she looked over out of habit. The message from Beth was blocked off, but she didn’t care; she barely saw it. He’d changed his background photo since she’d been taken. In the place of a picture of him and Daisy now sat a picture of the five of them: Alec, Ellie, Daisy, Tom, and Fred (though just barely as he was hoisted on Alec’s shoulders on this occasion). 

_ “Not going to be Barrett for long at all…”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for supporting this story!! Epilogue soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! Also hi, Broadchurch fandom! I've been lurking, but I'm so happy to be here.


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